New Delhi: Title favourites Mumbai started off their Ranji Trophy campaign in style defeating Railways by 10 wickets in their opening Elite Group match at Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday.

A 10-wicket victory ensured a bonus point for the 39-time champions as they got six points from the encounter. The Railways following on were dismissed for 244 in their second innings leaving a target of 18 for Mumbai which they reached without fuss.

For Railways, it was a matter of getting a point from the match by batting through the day. Lot of hopes were pinned on former UP opener Shivakant Shukla's ability to bat long hours.

However Shivakant (77) was caught by Prashant Naik off Ramesh Powar's bowling and any hopes of saving the match was gone for Railways. Shivakant hit eight boundaries and a six off during his 144-ball knock.

Skipper Sanjay Bangar (27) after his first innings half century again tried his typical stonewalling approach for near about three hours in company of Nitin Bille (34). The pait added 61 runs in 39 overs trying to bat out time.

Bangar was finally dismissed by left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla (3/29) caught by Ankit Chavan. The Railways lost their last six wickets for only 39 runs.

With enough time at their disposal, Mumbai required 4.2 overs to complete formalities as skipper Wasim Jaffer hit four boundaries in his unbeaten 19.

Hosts Tamil Nadu and Baroda shared the spoils garnering two points each from the rain-affected Ranji Trophy Elite Group match.

With north-east monsoon rains playing havoc, play was washed off during the first three days and only 12 overs were possible on Sunday.

Baroda, opting to bat, made 38 without loss with Kedhar Devdhar (25 not out) and southpaw Aditya Waghmode (10 not out) remaining unbeaten.

In their second league match in the group, Baroda will play Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu take on Haryana (at Chennai) from November 10 to 13.

Brief Scores: Baroda 38/0 (K Devdhar 25 no) vs TN

Points: Baroda 2 Tamil Nadu 2.

Sunny Singh prevents Delhi from recording outright victory

Former India colts player Sunny Singh hit 157 to help Haryana get a point against hosts Delhi in an opening round Ranji Trophy Elite Group encounter at the Roshanara ground.

Starting the day at 94 for two, Haryana batsmen led by Sunny showed dogged resistance and the lifelss Roshanara track also helped their cause as they reached 318 for eight when umpires called off the match with consent from captains.

Delhi however got three points from the match by virtue of their first innings lead of 59 runs.

When play was finally called off, Haryana had an overall lead of 259 runs.

Delhi started the day in right earnest with speedster Parwinder Awana trapping overnight batsman Abhimanyu Khod plumb in front. But that was the last success for Delhi for some time as Sunny along with all-rounder Sachin Rana (38) added 111 runs for the fourth wicket.

More importantly, they consumed 32.3 overs in the process shutting out any hopes that the hosts harboured of an outright win. The only chance that Delhi got during the phase was when Rana edged one off Awana which was dropped by Unmukt Chand in the slips.

Sunny in all batted for nearly six and half hours facing 269 deliveries in the process. He hit 19 boundaries and a six. The most important aspect of his batting was the responsible manner in which he approached. For someone who loves giving the ball a mighty thwack, Sunny waited patiently for the loose deliveries as he was intent in garnering a point for his team.

Vineet Saxena (99) missed out on his century by just one run but his knock helped Rajasthan earn a draw result against Karnataka, which got three points from their Ranji Trophy Super League match on the basis of their first innings lead.

Trailing by a huge margin of 317 runs, the reigning champions needed its top order to fire and it did happen as Saxena, Vaibhav Deshpande (52) and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (45) all stayed at the crease for at least two hours each.

Resuming at 51 for no loss, Rajasthan ended the day at 317 for seven. They had scored just 255 in their first essay while responding to Karnataka's mammoth 623 for six declared.

Saxena added 105 for the first wicket with fellow opener Deshpande and then another 200 for the second wicket with skipper Kanitkar as the hosts frustrated Karnataka bowlers.

It was young left-arm spinner KB Apanna who removed both Deshpande and Kanitkar.

The third-wicket stand between Saxena and Ashok Menaria (27) was building up well but Abhimanyu Mithun had the former caught behind to deny him a well-deserved century.

Robin Bisht (20) and Rohit Jhalani (28) also batted well in the lower order to ensure that the hosts survive the day.